LILLEY: Doug Ford takes 102-day Christmas break as opposition shrugs

Can you really call it a Christmas break when it lasts until the end of March?

The Ontario Legislature wrapped up its current sitting on Thursday, originally planning to return Feb. 17 – a two-month pause. Now, MPPs won’t be back at Queen’s Park until March 23, extending the break to a full 102 days.

“This government, they don’t want to work. The Premier doesn’t want to do his job,” NDP Leader Marit Stiles said in response to the news.

Look, I get that everyone calls it a vacation when the legislature isn’t sitting, but Stiles knows better. There is serious work that all MPPs do when the legislature isn’t sitting, including constituency work.

Also, anyone who knows Doug Ford knows the Premier never stops working.

Length of the break raises questions about government’s legislative agenda

All that said, the three-month break is more than a little excessive.

Is this government out of ideas in terms of legislation? Are they sick of the questions about the Skills Development Fund?

House Leader Steve Clark said that it’s been a busy session and now it’s time to implement what they have passed, including 12 government bills and six private members’ bills.

“We’re getting ready for a budget next year. We need to consult our communities,” he said.

Legislature sat only 51 days this year before a 102-day break

Following the election at the end of February, the legislature only sat for 23 days this past spring and then was off from June 5 until Oct. 20. They sat for seven weeks this fall, a total of 28 days for a total of 51 days this year.

Now, they are taking 102 days away from the legislature.

The sentiment from Ford’s team is that the legislature will sit when there is legislation to be passed and right now there isn’t any.

Premier Ford and his ministers will still be taking meetings, moving their agenda forward and running the massive bureaucracy. It’s not as if things stop moving forward in this $232-billion-a-year operation.

The government is still moving big files like expanding access to health care by allowing access to private surgical clinics with your health card, conducting a full review of the education system and expanding the power grid in a massive way.

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Long break limits MPPs’ ability to hold government accountable

But we are still a representative democracy, and our elected representatives should be able to hold the government to account in the legislature either during Question Period or at committee. That ability to hold feet to the fire, as it were, greatly diminishes when the legislature is not sitting.

Not that the opposition does a particularly good job of holding Ford to account.

That’s not just a personal opinion on my part, it’s backed up by polling. The latest polls over the past two months have Ford’s PC’s taking between 45% and 51% voter support.

If an election were held today, he would win handily.

That’s in part due to his ability to read the pulse of the public and respond. If the opposition does make the Skills Development Fund issue a problem for him, you can expect him to respond.

Weak opposition leadership gives Ford political space

For the most part though, Ford’s opposition is weak.

The Liberals have no leader and few prospects at the moment. As for Marit Stiles, leader of the NDP, despite being in the job for close to three years she remains an unknown commodity to most voters.

So, Ford can start a Christmas break on Dec. 11 and shut down the legislature until March 23, and he won’t face much in the way of opposition.

For the record, Alberta’s legislature also sat 51 days this year, Quebec has 66 days on their current sitting calendar and B.C. 67. Up in Ottawa, the federal Parliament sat for 69 days.

blilley@postmedia.com